An HIV-positive Zimbabwean man who has admitted giving a lover the disease through unprotected sex was at the centre of a new investigation today.

Another woman has come forward claiming to have had unprotected sex with Nkosinathi Mabanda while he was on bail for the crime, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told this afternoon.

Mabanda, aged  43, was due to have been sentenced today for infecting a Walsall woman with the disease, but the case was adjourned until July 25 for the latest woman to have HIV tests.

Prosecutor Mr Ian Ball told the court today the woman alerted police after seeing a photograph on February 22 in the Express & Star of Mabanda together with a report revealing he had admitted infecting a woman with HIV.  Four days earlier he had told her he was  returning to Zimbabwe because his mother was ill, it was claimed.

Mr Ball continued: “As a result of the newspaper article she immediately went to hospital and underwent an HIV test which proved negative, but the virus has a three-month incubation period. She had no idea Mabanda was HIV positive.”

Mabanda, formerly of Cannock but now living at Tixall Road, Stafford, said the woman was lying as she was angry with him.

Miss Wendy Miller, defending, said: “It was to be an important part of the mitigation in this case that throughout the two-year period this man has been on bail — he has not had a sexual relationship with another woman.”

Mr Ball revealed today  Mabanda had admitted to police having sex with nine women in the UK  before his arrest.

No further action is being taken in relation to this admission for a variety of reasons including difficulty tracing the women.

By Staff reporter and agencies